This is hell. And I quit.
It’s hot time. I mean it. It’s hot like in hell. Our office is quite a place, with mine cabinet, with our main office, with sales department office, with small warehouse, kitchen, with huge warehouse downstairs… And when I say it is hot time, I am basically saying that not all of these rooms have air conditioning. So you can imagine.
But of course, it’s not just about the temperature. It is a hot time in terms of production too. We’ve just published Ruins expansion for 51st State so there is lots of shipping to retailers and distributors. And lots of questions about The Ne Era (out of print) and Winter (out of print). Releasing Ruins was like awakening the beast. Now everybody is reminded about 51st State line.
We also released Mississippi expansion and we released it both as a 3.0 version and 2.0 version. All players who supported us for years won’t feel abandoned – we still support 2.0 version. So yes, now we have to explain to every damn retailer what’s going on and why there are two Mississippi products in our offer. We produced Polish, English and French edition. Quite a ride. There is lots of fun also because Mississippi is spelled MiSSiSSiPPi in English and MiSSiSiPi in Polish. So this is crazy when I produce marketing stuff for English and Polish markets and I have to remember about this small detail. I won’t lie. There was some misspelling these days.
Did I mention Origins this weekend? I am not there. Pitty. But I will be at Gen Con. And Gen Con is getting close. Oh yeah!
Gen Con operation. This is so much fun. It is going to be the adventure of the year. At this point I am no longer praying for wooden pieces for Imperial Settlers because they are ready. Now I am beginning to pray for safe shipping to US and for mercy at US customs. Customs may mess with our Gen Con release in so many ways. Just keep games for week or two and I am done.
But this is August issue. Now we are in June. In June we need to send files for Polish Resistance to print and answer all questions about reprint of Avalon. And reprint of Winter. And reprint of Convoy. And reprint of Robinson. And this one is huge. In March we announced that Polish new print will be available in late June. So since 8th of June we answer 10 phone calls per day about it. It seems that all retailers find 8th of June as a late June. And because we’ve just presented at our website that new print of Robinson has custom wood pieces and 7 scenarios and stickers for players pawns, and thick cardboard player characters sheets and basically looks fuckin’ gorgeous now we answer 20 phone calls per day from retailers. And you know, 11th of June is still not late June in my opinion.
Most retailers disagree with me on that point. Keep calling and calling.
Which is fun, because our sales dept guys, Mirek and Greg just shipped 500 copies of Boardgames That Tell Stories and are not in a mood to answer phone calls about Robinson every damn two minutes. But the best is coming. We just published Polish edition of Trait cards promo for Robinson and we will offer Beach expansion promo for Robinson next week. And today we put in offer whole line of new t-shirts for Neuroshima (8 different designs!). Yes, there is always something new to send to gamers! Our sales guys know no word 'vacation’
So, yes, it is hot and yes, we are busy, but this is just a glimpse of things that run here. We have new scenario for Robinson (it was supposed to be published today, but I decided to give it one more final round of testing), it will be published as a free PDF next Wednesday and believe me – you WILL love it. I am so proud of it. This was few months of work. Believe me. In the meantime we work on Polish Pixel Tactics and we work on Polish Imperial Settlers and additionally I just finished my old design of kids game (Land of Shadow) and we are at the stage of writing down final rules set. This is Sparta!
Did I mention video trailer for Imperial Settlers?
Did I mention that this week there is Pionek con – biggest board game con in South Poland and our company is very strong involved?
Did I mention Portalcon, con dedicated to Portal Games with keynotes and presentations of our new releases and lots of events for our dedicated fans? It will take place exactly in a month, on 12th of July.
Did I mention that in 2 weeks I go to Spain for a week to run workshops about designing games and such stuff?
And that Michal Oracz is nearly done with Theseus expansion?
There is so much going on. This is crazy. I could work 24/7 and still I would need to catch up.
But there is one more thing.
Tomorrow in Brasil World Cup begins.
So tomorrow I am taking 30 days off.
I have no idea what will happen without me at office. But I believe things will sort out. Somehow. Wish my team luck. Boss quits.
I strongly believe that good board game is the one that tells a good story. You play it and suddenly you are sucked into it, you feel chills on the skin. Emotions grow. In a moment you defend castle. You hear roar of warriors. You smell boiling oil. You are into it.
That's how I design my games. I always want to tell a good story. I want players to be into it. As deep as possible.
I was worried about World Cup because of a deep night matches. And till a day to start i have broken my arm. Yeah, i wear gypsum for a 3 weeks and after that had 2 weeks of rehabilitation. I was one-armed for month but i saw almost every match! It was a great summer=)